Warrants issued for 2 absentees in passport scandal

When word that Belize’s Financial Intelligence Unit was investigating a possible money laundering aspect to last year’s immigration and passport scandal, it had the whiff of a fishing expedition, a U.S. instigated ploy to bring some heat on alleged passport fixers Gabby Affif and Hassan Al Sayed. Perhaps, but today News 5 has learned that the F.I.U. was not just blowing smoke. A spokesman for the Director of Public Prosecutions office has confirmed that warrants have been issued for the arrest of Affif and Al Sayed, both of whom are out of the country, most likely in Lebanon. According to the D.P.P., each man faces five charges, including possession of a forged document, uttering a forged document, forgery of passports, forgery of an official document and money laundering. These charges were slated to be read on July thirty-first jointly with those of the first person arrested in the scandal, Therese Cabral, but Affif and Al Sayed could not be located by police. We are informed that Affif, through his attorney Michel Chebat, is making arrangements to voluntarily return to Belize to face the charges. Al Sayed, according to prosecutors, has not yet been heard from. When asked if any more indictments are expected, the spokesman would only say that it is possible that others may be charged. One of those possible others most frequently mentioned is Belize City businessman Jose Shoman Junior. Shoman, whose involvement in immigration matters is well known, is the employer of Cabral, the woman who allegedly forged the nationality and passport forms of applicants who reside abroad and did not otherwise qualify for Belizean citizenship.